Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Louise Calment was born on 21 February 1875 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence. Some of her close family members also had above-average lifespans. Her older brother, François (1865–1962), lived to the age of 97; her father, Nicolas (1837–1931), who was a shipbuilder, lived to be 93 years of age; and her mother, Marguerite Gilles (1838–1924), who was from a family of millers, lived to be 86 years of age.

From age seven until her First Communion, Calment attended Mrs Benet's church primary school in Arles, and then the local collège (secondary school), finishing at 16 with the brevet classique diploma. Asked about her daily routine while at primary school, she replied that "when you are young, you get up at eight o'clock". In lieu of a solid breakfast, she would have either coffee with milk, or hot chocolate, and at noon her father would pick her up from school to have lunch at home before she returned to school for the afternoon. In the following years, she continued to live with her parents, awaiting marriage, painting, and improving her piano skills.

On 8 April 1896, at the age of 21, Jeanne married her double second cousin, Fernand Nicolas Calment (1868–1942). Their paternal grandfathers were brothers, and their paternal grandmothers were sisters. He had reportedly started courting her when she was 15, but Jeanne was "too young to be interested in boys". Fernand was heir to a drapery business located in a classic Provençal-style building in the centre of Arles, and the couple moved into a spacious apartment above the family store. Jeanne employed servants and never had to work; she led a leisurely lifestyle within the upper society of Arles, pursuing hobbies such as fencing, cycling, tennis, swimming, rollerskating, playing the piano, and making music with friends. In the summer, the couple would stay at Uriage for mountaineering on the glacier. They also went hunting for rabbits and wild boars in the hills of Provence, using an "18mm rifle". Calment said she disliked shooting birds. She gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Yvonne Marie Nicolle Calment, on 19 January 1898. Yvonne married army officer Joseph Billot on 3 February 1926, and their only son, Frédéric, was born on 23 December of the same year. At the outbreak of World War I, Jeanne's husband Fernand, who was 46, was deemed too old to serve in the military.

Yvonne died of pleurisy on 19 January 1934, her 36th birthday, after which Calment raised Frédéric, although he lived with his father in the neighbouring apartment. World War II had little effect on Jeanne's life. She said that German soldiers slept in her rooms but "did not take anything away", so she bore no grudge against them. In 1942, her husband Fernand died, aged 73, reportedly of cherry poisoning. By the 1954 census, she was still registered in the same apartment, together with her son-in-law, retired Colonel Billot, Yvonne's widower; the census documents list Jeanne as "mother" in 1954 and "widow" in 1962. Her grandson Frédéric Billot lived next door with his wife Renée. Her brother François died in 1962, aged 97. …

In 1986, Calment became the oldest living person in France at the age of 111. Her profile increased during the centennial of Vincent van Gogh's move to Arles, which occurred from February 1888 to April 1889 when she was 13 and 14 years old. Calment claimed to reporters that she had met van Gogh at that time, introduced to him by her future husband in her uncle's fabric shop. She remembered that van Gogh gave her a condescending look, as if unimpressed by her. She described his personality as ugly, ungracious, and "very disagreeable", adding that he "reeked of alcohol". Calment said that she forgave van Gogh for his bad manners.

She was recognised by The Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest living person in 1988, when she was 112. However, the Gerontology Research Group later validated the age of Easter Wiggins (1 June 1874 – 7 July 1990), meaning that in reality Calment became the world's oldest living person in 1990. At the age of 114, she briefly appeared in the 1990 fantasy film Vincent and Me, walking outside and answering questions.

Calment's status further increased when Guinness named her the oldest person ever on 17 October 1995. This was based on her surpassing the now-debunked age claim of Japanese man Shigechiyo Izumi. As a result of Izumi's validation being withdrawn, Calment had already been the oldest person ever since surpassing the age of Easter Wiggins on 30 March 1991. Far exceeding any other verified human lifespan, Calment is widely regarded as the best-documented supercentenarian recorded. For example, she was listed in fourteen census records, beginning in 1876 as a one-year-old infant. After Calment's death, at 122 years and 164 days, then almost 117-year-old Canadian woman Marie-Louise Meilleur became the oldest validated living person. Several claims to have surpassed Calment's age were made, but none have been verified. For about three decades, Calment has held the status of the oldest human being whose age has been validated by modern standards.

In 1994, the city of Arles inquired about Calment's personal documents, in order to contribute to the city archives. However, reportedly on Calment's instructions, her documents and family photographs were selectively burned by a distant family member, Josette Bigonnet, a cousin of her grandson. …

Calment's health presaged her later record. On television she stated "J'ai jamais été malade, jamais, jamais" (transl. I have never been ill, never, never). At age 20, incipient cataracts were discovered when she suffered a major episode of conjunctivitis. She married at 21, and her husband's wealth allowed her to live without working. All her life she took care of her skin with olive oil and a puff of powder. At an unspecified time in her youth, she had suffered from migraines. Her husband introduced her to smoking, offering cigarettes after meals, but she did not smoke outside these post-meal occasions. Calment continued smoking in her elderly years until she was 117. At "retirement age", she broke her ankle, but before that had never suffered any major injuries. She continued cycling until her hundredth birthday. Around age 100, she fractured her leg, but she recovered quickly and was able to walk again.

After her brother, her son-in-law, and her grandson died in 1962–63, Calment had no remaining family members. She lived on her own from age 88 until shortly before her 110th birthday, when she decided to move to a nursing home. Her move was precipitated by the winter of 1985 which froze the water pipes in her house (she never used heating in the winter) and caused frostbite to her hands.

After her admission to the Maison du Lac nursing home in January 1985, aged almost 110, Calment initially followed a highly ritualised daily routine. She requested to be awoken at 6:45 a.m., and started the day with a long prayer at her window, thanking God for being alive and for the beautiful day which was starting. She sometimes loudly asked the reason for her longevity and why she was the only one to be still alive in her family. Seated on her armchair, she did gymnastics wearing her stereo headset. Her exercises included flexing and stretching the hands, then the legs. Nurses noted that she moved faster than other residents who were 30 years younger. Her breakfast consisted of coffee with milk and rusks.

She washed herself unassisted with a flannel cloth rather than taking a shower, applying first soap, then olive oil and powder to her face. She washed her own glass and cutlery before proceeding to lunch. She enjoyed daube (braised beef), but was not keen on boiled fish. …

Calment died on 4 August 1997 in a nursing home in Arles, France. She was 122 years and 164 days old. French media reported that she died of natural causes, though some English-language obituaries did not specify a cause of death. The New York Times quoted demographer Jean-Marie Robine as stating that she had been in good health, albeit almost blind and deaf, as little as a month before her death. At the time of her death, she was also the last verified living person born in the 1870s.